27/02/25 15:45

La Grand Mosqée de Paris.  Not for the first time.  But not for a while have I written in here.  I’m in the section that leads on to the restaurant, rather than the part that feels like a Moroccan oasis.

I spoke to Rory t’other day.  I think it was yesterday, actually.  We were listening to an episode of An Englishman in Paris – the blogcast and I noticed how eloquent and focused my writing was 5 years ago.  Granted, back in those days I was attempting to complete my master’s degree so things were different then.  I was doing my best to show, not tell.  And I also had a word count.  Plus, the pressure to be creative.  I have never worked well when faced with these kinds of criteria.  Not in a creative way.

Once I get through this set of blog posts and vlog b-rolls, I’m going to see if I can get to the creative place that I used to be.  I’m not necessarily talking about Paris, although I could easily mean Paris.  However, for clarity, I mean writing for writing, not simply for note-making.  I’ve no idea if that’ll ever happen, as I always need to try and be ahead of where I am by many steps.  Today is b-roll.  I need to go through it to work out when to use it.  Meanwhile, I need to produce the remainder of the season at the same time.  And the intros and outros from last week.  And then there’s the blogcast.  I think I’ll simply use CapCut for that.  If I keep everything uniform and basic, the filing system should be easier to handle.  Should be.

In a minute, I’ll finish up here, make my way to Bercy Village, spend a few hours there and maybe hunker down in a bar with a pint of cidré avec sirop de grenadine.  Or two.  In theory, I’ve got space in my bag as the holdall is coming out for the bus trip.  Not that there’s anything left for me to get.  We’re fine with smellies, chocolate has been topped up today and I grabbed a beret or two for Nev.

It’ll be an early night tomorrow and I’ll try and get some sleep on the coach and the ferry.  I’ve enough b-roll for today and if I ever need anymore, I’ll simply bring one camera next time.  Including the reduction of accessories, I’ll slim down the writing books, too.  My new fountain pen writes nicely but I think it felt heavy, capped.  This may be because of the tiredness of my wrist, already.  I’ll wait to get to the next time and see what happens before inking up t’other two that I ordered alongside the one that I used.  And some ink cartridges, Herbin, don’t want to fit.